


Day 204

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [204]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:20:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25473013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [204]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 204

Gomes’s day started in a perfectly ordinary way. He woke early in the morning, and dressed in his only tunic. His wife gave him a traditional Kirkwall pasty to take to work for lunch and gave her and his daughter a goodbye kiss. The pasty was a little flat, though it was always a little flat the day before market day. But, that meant that today was payday and Gomes found the day went by a little faster on payday. 

He left for work in good spirits, even whistling a bit as he walked. That came to an abrupt halt when he arrived at the warehouse to find templars blocking the entrance. The leader of the group was a woman with a brown bob of hair and resting bitch face. She stepped forwards, trusting a hand out to block Gomes from approaching.

“You can’t go inside,” said the templar. As though their presence there didn’t imply as much. “There are demons inside.”

“What kind of demons,” Gomes asked.

“The kind that kill you,” she said. “Now shove off!”

Gomes had been one of the first to arrive but a crowd of warehouse workers was starting to gather outside. All of them were relying on the pay coming in today to eat for the next week.

“Today is payday,” Gomes insisted. “We need to get to work so we can go to market tomorrow. How long are you going to keep the warehouse closed?”

“Until the demons are dead,” said the templar. “You can’t get paid if you’re dead.”

The other workers started shouting and the templars closed ranked and started shoving people back. Gomes needed a solution and he needed it soon. There was no guarantee that the templars would let them back into the warehouse today, or if the warehouse would even be in a state where they could get any work done. Usually whenever there was a ‘disturbance’ in a warehouse and the authorities swept in things would ‘go missing’ in the fighting. Gomes was at least thankful that he hadn’t left anything inside when he left yesterday.

A few of the other workers left to see if they could get temporary work for the day but that would not work for Gomes. Nothing he could do in a day would earn him enough money to feed his family for the week. He could barely afford to lose today.

Gomes went off in search of the warehouse manager, he might be able to convince him to pay Gomes for the work he had already done. Gomes found the man in his office nearby and he was arguing with yet another templar. 

“I’m sorry,” he said before Gomes could even speak. “I left all my silver and copper in the warehouse to keep it safe. I can’t get to it until the templars leave. If I could help you I would.”

“Tomorrow is market day,” Gomes protested. “Will you be able to get in before then?”

The templar shook his head. “We don’t know when it will be safe to return. Maybe not for a few days. I’m sorry but there’s nothing we can do. You might be able to borrow something to tide you over. I hear the moneylender Jansen had decent rates.”

Gomes didn’t want to put himself and his family into debt, but there didn’t seem to be any alternative. He left the docks behind and made his way to Lowtown. Jansen had a friendly face that Gomes would never have guessed belonged to a moneylender. Gomes explained his situation to the man who looked pensive for a moment before responding.

“That’s not normally what we do,” Jansen said. “What we do is lend out money for those who want to improve their lot and that of others. If you want we can work on a business plan with my partner.”

“Please,” Gomes begged. “My family will starve if I don’t have food for market day. I just need a few silver and I’ll be able to pay you back when the templars let us back into the warehouse where I work. I don’t have time to make plans.”

“All right,” Jasnen said. “But just this one and don’t tell anyone.”

Gomes agreed and they drew up a quick contract. He borrowed as little as possible. Food would be tight this week but it would keep the interest low. If he was lucky he would be able to repay the winter debt as soon as he was paid. 

He left to deliver the silver home but met some other dockworkers on the way. They asked where he had gotten the money. Gomes had promised to keep it a secret but all these men and women had families to feed as well. He owed them more than he owed Jansen, at least morally, and he sent them to the moneylender.


End file.
